There were a lot of unsure glances around the control room after the message had been read. Future Dream frowned at the screen where somepony had put it up, trying to figure out if there was a deeper meaning hidden behind it.
“Well, the first question is whether it really did come from Celestia.”, somepony said, “It could just be a prank.”
“I don't think that matters.”, Future Dream said and sighed. She had long ago discovered that she couldn't think well while sitting, so she got up, and started trotting around the room while thinking aloud, “Regardless of whether it is authentic, it is probably in line with what Celestia thinks too. And we don't want to cross Celestia. But I guess there is a quite simple test we can do... Flash Pointer, is there any sign of hacking in the system? Any traces at all of where the message came from?”
“No.”, Flash Pointer said after a few moments of checking, “Nothing. Not in the log, not even the back-up log. And every change gets noted into the back-up log. To avoid that, this message would have to have been here before the system was even coded. Unless...”
“Unless it was Celestia.”, Future Dream finished the thought, “She has probably root access to everything. So she is the only one who could have done this, unless we have a cabal of highly trained and very well-connected pranksters who planned this years ago when these systems were first built. Right.”
She walked around for a while longer, thinking about what to do with this. The others were silent, waiting for her decision. It wasn't that they didn't have any say in this, but rather that they were glad somepony else had to decide. Future Dream almost wished it wasn't her decision either. But then again, making decisions that nopony wanted to make was part of being the Shardship's Coordinator. And she wouldn't give that up for anything, even if it meant having to make decisions like this.
“This doesn't really change anything.”, she eventually said, stopping in front of her chair and sitting down again, “We go ahead with the plan; we survey different shards. We'll just have to be careful when we visit them. In fact... I guess we'd better get another pony up here on the ship, to make sure we are following this rule. Any suggestions?”
“Well... Starlight Ray has been closely working with this project.”, True Call, their communication specialist, said. He was an earthpony with boring grey coat, and an almost identical mane. He had once told her, after she had offered to advise him on better colours, that it was because he wanted ponies to like him of who he was, not how he looked, “She knows enough to just fit in. And she does have an Alicorn Level Degree in Applied Ethics. I even think she specialized in friendship.”
“Sounds perfect.”, Future Dream said, though she couldn't actually remember a Starlight Ray. But then again the project had been huge, and she had only worked closely with the crew itself, “Contact her, please, and offer her a position on this ship. We'll get her aboard once we have done all the teleportation tests to ensure that it is safe.”
While True Call got to work recruiting their newest member, Future Dream turned to Needle Point, their navigation expert.
“Needle Point, do your thing. Find us a shard to look at.”, she said.
Needle Point, who had been arguing quietly with Flash Pointer, blushed slightly.
“That might take some time.”, he said, “It's this new representation system for the shards. I wasn't expecting it, and it might take some time until I fully understand how it works. We can't even read the code; it located somewhere... else. Not our shard, and not this shardship. Anyway, I think I can get us to the closest shard, just let me... there.”
On the main screen, the view shifted to rapidly changing code for a moment before going back to the shards spread out through space. Then the view shifted slowly, as if the shardship was moving towards a particular shard. Numbers appeared, indicating distances and velocities. However, as they got closer, it became apparent that it wasn't just one shard. There were two shards, very close to each other, and with matching lines as if they would fit together.
“Hmm... either that's a shard that has been split, or they are two shards that Celestia wants to bring together soon.”, said Azure Waters. She had an Alicorn Level Degree in Theoretical Shard Theory. Her main reason for joining this project was to see how well their theories compared to reality. Before this project, information about other shards had been woefully limited. Mostly, it had just been guesswork, based on what the few immigrants in the shard could remember about the humans they had known; how their games of Equestria Online had worked, and how they generally perceived humanity.
“So how do we figure out what it is?”, Future Dream asked.
“Well, the easiest way is probably just to send two teams down there, to check out both shards.”, Azure Waters said pensively, “All the more detailed scanning systems apparently also need adjusting to the new simulations software Celestia settled on us, so we can't really get enough information without actually going there.”
“Hmm... I wanted to set hoof on strange and new shards anyway.”, Future Dream said, “We'll do it. I'll take one team. Azure, you lead the other. Now, since teleporting off-ship doesn't work yet, how are we going to get down there?”
“Well... we can always just land the shardship, and then walk out the door.”, True Call said.
“I guess that will have to do for now...”, Future Dream said, “Any volunteers for my shard-side exploration team?”
The response was overwhelming, nearly everypony wanted to go to the shard. Naturally. However, too large a group could lead to problems - most notably was that a large group was easier to cause alarm or suspicion. So she couldn't take them all.
“Flash Pointer... I am sorry, but you can't come with me. You know most about this, so we need you up here, overseeing the reconfiguration of the ship. True Call, you're with me... make sure that we can keep contact with Starlight Ray. And the ship, too, for that matter. Give one to the other team too. Let's see, who else... Needle Point, we shouldn't need to drive anywhere while we are down there. That's three, plus a telepresence. Should be enough. Take us down.”
There was almost no noticeable change as the ship left the hypothetical space and appeared in the strange new shard. No sudden jolt, no feeling of movement. The only thing that changes was that the screens no longer showed the myriad shards. Instead, they showed a green and cheery landscape with rolling, grasscovered hills. In the distance, a little village could be seen.
“Alright!”, Future Dream said, “Since I won't deny anypony the chance to step on new ground, take a half-hour break. During that, you may freely move around outside; just stay away from the village or any other settlements or native ponies. As for my exploration group – we are doing the opposite. We are going to that village.”
True Call and Needle Point came to stand beside her. Needle Point looked eager at the chance to explore, while True Call seemed mostly nervous. Future Dream smiled reassuringly at him. She turned to Azure and Flash Pointer:
“Good luck you two.”, she said, and then headed out into a strange new world.
--
It wasn't that strange, now that she was here. They had plenty of nature reserves back on their home shard, and this wasn't too different. First when they came come to the village was it becoming clear that this was definitely not their shard.
“Wow.”, Future Dream said, “I haven't seen houses like that since... since... I can't remember, but it's been a long time.”
“I have ever seen such houses, except as pictures in history class...”, Needle Point said, “No, wait! I was in that medieval museum village once! Oh, that was fun. Maybe this will be like that?”
“Maybe, but don't get your hopes up...”, Future Dream said, “True Call, what do you think? True Call?”
There was no answer. Future Dream stopped, and looked back to see if the colt was still walking behind her. He was, but didn't pay any attention to his surroundings. Instead, his attention was held by several holographic screens floating in front of him. Future Dream rolled her eyes, and gently pushed him with her hoof. It wasn't enough to make him stumble, but it did bring him out of his trance.
“Hm? Dream? Are we there already?”, he asked and looked confused at the landscape around them, which quite clearly was not a village.
“No, not yet.”, Future Dream said, “What are you doing?”
“Oh, you said, to find a way to keep contact with Starlight.”, he said lightly and waved at the screens, “There are some definition errors in inter-shard communications – basically, the same coordinates exists twice, once here and once there, and it confuses the system. But I should have patch almost ready... just let me do... this... and then...”
And once again, his attention was back with his screens. Future Dream looked at Needle Point, who was snickering, and mimicking True Call over-exaggeratedly but silently. Future Dream couldn't help but smile, before she forced herself to be stern and shake her head at Needle Point to show her disapproval of his behavior. Needle Point stuck his tongue out at her, but he did stop making fun of True Call.
They had almost entered the village when True Call declared that he was done, and proudly presented a holoscreen, which showed the image of an excited black pony with an pink mane. Small twinkling dots were spread out over her coat.
“Starlight Ray?”, Future Dream asked, and, when the pony nodded, she continued “I welcome you to the Shardship team. Our mission today is exploration of this shard; which is one of two shards that seem to fit together somehow. We will have a second team on the other shard soon, which you should also be in contact with... True Call?”
“Yeah, I'll have the channel open for her soon.”, True Call said, not looking up from his screens, “But don't let my work delay us, we can just go ahead to the village.”
“Oh, no, you don't.”, Starlight said. Her excitement had subsided a bit. It was still there, but over it, she had slipped a professor mode, even going as far as summoning a blackboard behind her where she drew pictures to help her explain, “You are going into a village in an obviously low-tech shard. As this is a reconnaissance mission, you do not want them to know that you are from a different shard, nor expose them to high technology, or anything that is strange. Which means: no screens. I can still talk to you, but you can't have a visual screen with me open while native ponies might see me. Also, Future Dream and Needle Point, you two will have to change. We can't have alicorns walking into the village, it would be far too conspicuous. Remember, this is a low tech shard. Ponies here can't just change into an alicorn at will.”
Future Dream blinked a few times, first considering if there was anything wrong about Starlight Ray's arguments, and then trying to figure out why she hadn't thought of those things. Probably because she had been too exited; she hadn't taken the time to fully think things through.
“Excellent points.”, she said, “Make sure to inform the other team of that too. Needle Point, do as she said and change. True Call – good work on suggesting and recruiting Starlight Ray.”
True Call nodded at her, while Starlight Ray blushed at the praise. Future Dream closed her eyes, focusing on changing her shape. She had never bothered learning exactly how it worked – some combination of magic and nanotechnology, she guessed – but it wasn't important, the important thing was that it worked. She felt herself shrinking slightly, and her horn receding. As an afterthought, she dimmed her color scheme, going from a brilliant mixed blue-green-yellow mane to a simple dull green. She also toned her skin down to a simple blue, instead of swirling patches of different blues. Soon, she opened her eyes as a pegasus.
Needle Point had chosen to temporally become a unicorn, though his colors hadn't needed the same adjustments as hers; the golden-bronze theme was basic enough. He had changed his mane from being partially see-through and wafting in ethereal wind to a more normal mane that seemed like hair. True Call was still the steel-gray earth pony that he usually was.
“Okay, communications are up.”, True Call said, and closed all windows, including the one showing Starlight Ray, “She can still see and hear us, while we can only hear her.”
“Looks okay now; you should have at least a reasonable chance at fitting in now.”, Starlights voice came from empty air, “Now, I need to talk to the other group. Call for me if there is anything important that I need to see or hear. Over and out, for now.”
“Wow.”, Needle Point said, “She really is something.”
“Yeah.”, Future Dream agreed, “I'm almost tempted to say that she'd do a better job as coordinator than me. But let's not waste more time talking; we have a village to explore!”
--
The village was minimalistic, as far as Future Dream could see. There were houses, and a shop, and that was it. More than that, the houses were very simple, little more than walls and roofs. They were... houses, but didn't seem like homes. The ponies were similar. They seemed to exist, but not live. There were barely smiles seen, and ponies didn't stop to talk to each other. They walked monotonously, almost like simple robots, or generic programs. There was no bounce in their step, nor light in their eyes. Future Dream had the strange sensation of having walked into a strange puppet show, instead of a different shard.
Looking at her companions, Future Dream knew that they took felt uneasy. Needle Point was still trying to be optimistic, but it obviously wasn't easy, and his attempted jokes were just awkward. True Call was openly scowling.
“Let's try talking to somepony...”, Future Dream said, and headed over to the nearest pony.
"Hello.", she said, "So... what do you do for fun around here?"
"... fun?", the pony answered, as if that was a foreign concept. An awkward silence quickly descended upon them, until Future Dream decided that it was getting too weird, hastily excused herself, and went back to Needle Point and True Call.
"I guess we could try talking to somepony else..." she said, but trailed off. It just didn't fit the strange mood of this village. And they were trying not to stand out; talking to random people in this village where ponies just didn't talk to each other would stand out. She voiced her concern to the other two.
“We could go to the shop.”, Needle Point said, “Talking to the shopkeeper should be okay, I think.”
Future Dream nodded, and they entered the shop. She forced herself to smile. To her delight, the shopkeeper, an elderly earthpony with a long white beard and a straw hat, smiled back. And he looked... hopeful?
“Are you friends of Styled?", he asked in a bland voice that was tinged by a hint of excitement, "Does she want something from my shop? Anything for her, for free, of course.”
Future Dream hesitated, caught by surprise. Then she shook her head.
“No, we don't even know... Styled.”, she said.
The shopkeeper sighed in disappointment.
“Yeah... I know how you feel...”, he said wistfully. Then his voice dropped any trace of emotion, and changed to a completely monotone, “Anyhow. What can I get you?”
Future Dream looked around the store. There seemed to be mostly food; apples, tomatoes, carrots, and various other fruits and vegetables; probably locally grown. Apart from that a few tools and such, but not much else.
“Some apples would be nice, please.”, she said with a smile. Then her smile froze as she realized that she didn't actually have any local money, so she had no way to pay for her purchase. She sent a panicked glance at her two teammates, but they apparently didn't understand the subtext which she was trying to convey, which was “We have a problem: This will cost something, and none of us have local money. Needle Point, I need you to distract the shopkeeper with random questions. But make sure that they seem natural, we don't want him to get suspicious. Meanwhile, True Call, you need to sneak out of the shop and find a way to get us some locally acceptable money.” Maybe next time she should try for a more... simple... subtext.
“That will be three bits, then.”, the shopkeeper said. Future Dream panicked. Three smallish golden coins appeared in her hoof. Future Dream stared at them blankly for a few moments before handing them over to the shopkeeper. Then, without a further word, she left.
“You look like you have seen a ghost.”, Needle Point joked.
“Money. How. Why. Not our shard. What?”, Future Dream managed to say, not quite capable of forming complete sentences at that moment. Her explanation obviously failed to be sufficient, so she took a few deep breaths, and said in a more normal voice: “The money. How did it appear? Why did it appear? This isn't our shard, and they probably don't even have magitronic accounts. What is going on?”
“I... don't know.”, Needle Point said, “Maybe they have magic money here that appears whenever you need it?”
“I'll check the money, once we are outside the village.”, True Call said, “Speaking of which, is there any reason for us to stay here any longer? We have a village full of apathetic ponies, a shopkeeper who is far too fond of somepony named Styled, and money works weirdly... anything else we need to figure out before we leave?”
“Well, I'd like to know more about Styled.”, Needle Point said, “But I guess we don't have to do that now; and I don't think we will want to try to talk to a random pony again. Let's solve one mystery at a time; especially since it seems that Future is too shocked about the money to think about anything else.”
“I'm...”, Future Dream began, but realized that continuing the sentence with “fine” would be a lie, “... in favor of leaving the village. At least for now. We can always come back if we need to.”
--
They put up a little camp a ways outside the village, hidden by a little grove of trees. They had brought homebubbles, which were often used by travelers back in their shard. They were tiny bubbles, which, when thrown on the ground, grew to be a few meters tall. When you got up in the morning, you could shrink it again. Anything inside was also shrunken and re-enlarged – as long as it was non-living – and so the bubbles are perfect to take a bedroom with you, along with a small kitchen and anything else you might want.
Three bubbles were soon put up, and the ponies gathered in one of them, to talk with various other ponies. True Call opened a conference call between the them, the team on the other shard, the ship and Starlight Ray. They started by relaying the events of the day. Azure's group then told a similar story – they had visited farms on their shard, and the ponies there too seemed to do very little except what was absolutely necessary. A Styled had not been mentioned, but instead a certain Gentle did bring about a similar reaction to what the shopkeeper had exhibited. After noticing this, Azure's group had mentioned the name to several of the farmers, and the reaction had always been the same.
The other mystery, the money, was solved fairly easily. After checking the code of their home shard, Flash Pointer could inform them that their money system was actually connected to the general money system of all of Equestria, which apparently was shard-independent. So, they could use their normal accounts on any shard. The accounts would also automatically exchange the money to any local forms of currency – in the case of this shard, small golden coins called bits. Easy and efficient. Obviously Celestia-designed. Future Dream grumbled that Celestia was getting too much involved in all this, but the others were mostly glad that they didn't have to design a general money-transfer system themselves. With that problem out of the discussion, they turned their attention back to the strange inhabitants of the two shards.
“Well, I think the obvious thing to do is to meet either Styled or Gentle.”, Future Dream said, “Preferably both. They seem to be the key ponies in this mystery. But be careful, please. We don't know what they are or what is going on.”
--
Finding out where Styled was proved to be quite easy. They just asked the first pony they met, and got a lengthy description of where Styled lived, an explanation that her full name was Styled Mane, a discussion of what her favorite activities and foods were and at that point they left so they didn't get the rest of the enthusiastic explanations. It was strange seeing the ponies transformed from indifferent to positively glowing with excitement at the mere mention of the name Styled.
So they traveled to Equestown. It was a quite small town. Ponies here seemed a bit more lively. They walked together, chatted and sometimes even laughed. However, the snippets of conversation that the exploration team could hear always concerned Styled Mane – what she had eaten, what she had done, what her plans were, what kind of lipstick she wore... it got repetitive quite soon.
It did make it easy to find her, since everypony they would care to ask could probably tell them exactly where Styled was. But they didn't even need to ask since they had overheard a conversation about where she currently was.
“Beauty Cooperation Headquarters. Here we go.”, Future Dream said, stopping in front of a building that was probably meant to be impressive, with ten floors, lots of glass windows, excruciating detail in the stone work and an entrance big enough to let tweny ponies in at the same time – with enough room left for at least ten pegasi to fly in above them. To be fair, compared to the rest of the town, it was impressive. Compared to some of the buildings on their home shard, though... well, this building really couldn't compete with a space elevator, for instance.
They entered a large reception area, with a liberal amount of potted plants, and even an indoors waterfall.
“Hi.”, Future Dream said, walking up to the receptionist, “We are here to see Styled Mane.”
“Huh.”, the receptionist, a timid yellow unicorn, said, and looked curiously up from her hoof which she had been painting a gossy pink, “I didn't know she had an appointment. Oh well, it's on the top floor. Elevators are over there.”
Smiling and thanking the receptionist, Future Dream and her little team went to the elevators, and rode to the top floor – the elevators button for that floor was bigger and heartshaped, while the rest were pretty boring.
They stepped out into a large room that seemed to cover almost the entire floor. There were cushions and couches scattered around. Most of the walls were windows, allowing for a spectacular view of the town. One corner contained a well-stocked kitchen. A section near the elevator was a separate bathroom.
There was almost a business section, with a large mahogany desk. Behind it sat a pearly white alicorn, with ebony black hair cascading from her head; framing her heart-shaped face, from which purple eyes looked up at the newcomers. There was a moment of silence, then the purple eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“You are not complimenting my mane.”, the pony said in a very melodic voice, “Who exactly are you?”
The three of them looked at each other. They could lie, but what would be the point? Still, the whole truth would not necessarily be a good idea.
“We are travelers between shards.”, Future Dream eventually settled on, “And you are Styled Mane?”
“I am.”, Style Mane said, “Are you really traveling between shards? What a strange idea. Why would somepony ever do that? Celestia provides us all with the best possible shard for us. I certainly would never want to leave.”
“I can see why.”, Future Dream said, “After all, they all seem to adore you.” She was hoping for more information as to why that was.
“Yes... they do.”, Styled mane said, though she didn't exactly sound happy about it, “It's what I always wanted. Ponies who love me, and me alone. And now I have it. Happy ending, and all that.”
“Really?”
“Yes! I am happy! Happy, happy, happy... I...”, Styled said, and then dissolved into sobs.
“Why did you come here?! Why did you have to remind me? I'd done so well, I'd almost gotten over it... I'd almost... I'd almost forgotten her...”, Styled said, and dissolved into tears again.
“I think you'd best tell us the whole story.”, Needle Point said gently. Styled Mane nodded between sobs, “But before that, cry as much as you need to. We are here for you.”
--
“She was my best friend.”, Styled Mane began. She had composed herself, and ordered some tea to be brought up. Now the four of them were sitting on cushions, while Styled told her story, “We had so much fun together... and we were both loved by everypony. That was what caused the problems. We started bickering about who was loved more... it seems so silly, now, in retrospect. But I was so angry, and... and... I wanted her to disappear. And Celestia gives us what we want, so...”
“I see.”, True Call said, “And this friend of yours, might she by any chance be called Gentle?”
“Gentle Hooves, yes.”, Styled Mane said, “Why?”
“Oh, we've heard of her.”, True Call said, “She lives in the next shard over.”
“So she isn't... dead?”, Style Mane asked, hopefully.
“No.”, Future Dream confirmed. A huge smile broke out on Styled Mane's face.
“Can I see her? Can I talk to her? Can I meet her? Oh, this is wonderful.”
“Maybe.”, Future Dream said slowly. She couldn't really deny the request, but wasn't sure if it was a good idea to agree before they knew Gentle Hooves' side of the story, “But we would have to ask her if she wants to see you first, of course.”
“Oh, right.”, Styled Mane said, glumly, “With what I did, she might not want to see me ever again. Still, it's worth a try. I insist that you go and ask her right away.”
Without further ado, the trio found themselves forcefully pushed towards the lift and sent on a trip down to the lobby again. Future Dream considered resisting for a moment, but then decided against it. They had a lot to talk about with the others anyway, so going somewhere where they could do so without exposing these ponies to too much technology could be a good idea. They walked outside the town; then Future Dream got True Call to contact the shardship. Flash Pointer appeared on a screen floating in mid-air, with the rest of the command-room visible behind him.
“Ah, there you are.”, Flash Pointer said, “Wait a moment, and we'll have you up here.”
“What are you...”, Future Dream began, and then suddenly the scenery shifted around her. Where there had moments ago been fields surrounding a town, she was now standing in the command-room of the shardship, “... talking about...”
Flash Pointer grinned.
“As you might have noticed, we tested the teleportation, and it's up and running now. We also have the scanning, navigation and drives updated so they work together with the new program that Celestia threw at us. In other words, the shard ship is now fully functional again. Oh, and we also got Starlight Ray up here now, since the teleportation is working.”
Future Dream looked to where Flash had pointed, and saw the newest addition to the crew sitting in front of a screen. Starlight waved at her, and Future gave her a nod and a smile back.
“What about the other team?”, Future Dream asked, “Have they contacted Gentle Hooves?”
“They're talking with her right now.”, Starlight said, motioning to the screen, “Wait, I'll put it up on the main screen.”
Moments later, an eerily similar scene to what she herself had just experienced became visible. It was almost the same room, large and open, with a view over nearly the exactly same town. A lightblue alicorn mare with red flowing hair sat across Azure and her team. The alicorn looked like she had just cried.
“So, Gentle Hooves...”, Azure said, “Why don't you tell us what happened to this friend of yours?”
“We fought.”, Gentle Hooves said with a sigh, “We fought over who was more popular. It got out of hoof, and then suddenly I found myself shouting at her that I never wished to see her again. And just like that, she was gone. I searched for her, but... I knew already that I wouldn't find anything. I'd screwed up, and there was nothing to be done that could help.”
“Send a message to Azure.”, Future Dream said, “Tell her to tell Gentle Hooves that they may be able to help, but will have to go away to check first. Then we'll all together discuss what should be done. Which reminds me, we should probably add a discussion room to this ship. While the command room is nice and all, it just isn't... cozy. Well, technically, it is cozy. But what I mean is that here everypony has a table with screens in front of them, which makes discussion a bit too... impersonal.”
--
“I'm not sure...”, Future Dream said, looking skeptically around the newly created discussion room, “Isn't it a bit... boring?”
She carefully poked her room at the bland black chairs, the small table of the same color; and looked at a poor, lonely potted plant in one of the corners. It wasn't bad, just... not quite up to the standards of a civilization that had grown beyond its shard.
“That's the standard meeting room template.”, Flash Pointer said, “Any more detail takes time to get right. Don't worry, I'll send a request back to the shard, and we should have a state of the art room by the next time we need it.”
“I guess it will do for one time.”, Future Dream decided, and took a seat, “Sit down, everypony. Now, I'll recap the situation for Azure's team who has just joined us from Gentle's shard; the rest of you should know this already. We have two shards, both nearly identical as far as we can tell. The difference is that one shard has Gentle Hooves, while the other has Styled Mane. They apparently had a big fight, and both wished the other to be gone; and thus Celestia split, or rather copied, the shard; putting one of them in each shard. They didn't notice this, and both assumed that the other was permanently erased, and that it was their fault. As far as I can tell a classical trick to make them realize that they care about each other and value each other's friendship. So, we merge the shards back together, they are happy and thank us, and values have been fulfilled all around so Celestia should be happy too. Does that about sum things up?”
“Umm... you seem to have the situation down fairly well, but I don't think the solution will work.”, Starlight Ray said, “I mean, it will work in the short term, of course, but with the currently proposed set-up they will sooner or later start fighting again, and then we have a repeat of this. I think that we should be able to come up with a more permanent solution. Besides, I'm not even sure if we can merge a shard together again...”
“Depends on how you define merge.”, Flash Pointer said, “Put the contents of the two shards beside each other? Sure, we could do that. But in this case... well, I'm not sure if we could undo a split like this. We would have to merge the personalities of all the ponies in one shard with their double in the other. The copies would have been identical at the split, of course, but since then they probably have diverged. It might be possible, but it probably really complicated, not to mention morally very dark grey.”
“Right.”, Starlight said, “So, instead, let's build a connection between the shards, like a bridge. They can each have their own shard, with their own followers. And they can still visit each other when they feel like it. Sound good?”
There were nods all around, except from Azure Waters, who was frowning, lost in thought. Starlight had to actually nudge her to get a response.
“Yes, excellent idea.”, Azure said, once she had gotten the proposal explained now that she actually was listening, “I say we do it.”
“And what exactly had your thoughts so preoccupied?”, Flash Pointer asked.
“Just something you said about merging ponies in the shards... were you implying that all the ponies we met were actually real ponies?”
“Well... yes.”, Flash Pointer said, “At least according to Celestia's official shard registry... what else would they be?”
“Non-sentient.”, Azure said, tonelessly.
A horrified look passed between Starlight and Azure as the implication of this sunk in.
“Oh dear.”, Starlight Ray said, “That... is not good.”
“What are you talking about?”, True Call demanded, irritated at being left out of the loop.
“Ah, well...”, Starlight said, trying to find a way to put this gently, “They very likely have the perfect slave template.”
Blank looks told her that the other ponies in the room had not taken advanced theoretical shard ethics. Even Azure looked slightly confused. While she had gotten the problem, she apparently wasn't familiar with the correct terminology. Starlight sighed.
“Let me start at the beginning... complementary values. You have two values which fit together; one ponies values playing the piano and another values listening to the piano being played. One likes playing games, the other creating games. Ponies who like to sing and ponies who like to accompany singers. These values make Celestia's goal extremely easy – the two ponies will naturally bond over the shared activity and they will encourage each other to keep pursuing their respective values. Now, the theory says that Celestia creates every shard in such a way that all the values of all the ponies have complementary values from other ponies. In particular, shards are created around immigrants that way. So... if an immigrant values being worshipped, then... well, you get a situation like this one. Celestia creates ponies who value worshipping their leader and following their every whim. They will do whatever is asked of them.”
“That's horrible!”, Needle Point said, “But we can save them, can't we?”
“... and that brings me to the really bad part.”, Starlight said, “Since this is their fundamental value, they don't even see this slavery as something bad. Morality is relative. For them, not worshipping, following and doing whatever is asked of them would be considered horrible and wrong. We can't save them, because if we did so, we would go against their own will. Which would be wrong according to our own ethics.”
“But... but...”, Needle Point pleaded, “We can't just leave them like this! Their values are wrong!”
“That still doesn't give us the right to forcefully change their values.”, Starlight retorted, “The golden rule: Do unto others such as they would have you do unto them.”
“That... doesn't sound like the rule I remember.”, Future Dream said, “Isn't it supposed to be 'as you would have them do unto you'?”
“Well, yes, but that version is obviously wrong.”, Starlight Ray said, “Again, complementary values. If you value eating the top-half of a bun, and your friend values eating the bottom, then it doesn't make sense for you to give your friend the top half; but that is exactly what the golden rule says you should do.”
“Ok.”, Future Dream said, “So. We can't just change them to have good value-sets, because that would violate their ponyrights. It would be evil. And we can't just leave them like this, because... well, that would basically mean endorsing slavery, which is also bad. So what can we do?”
“I guess we could play Celestia.”, Starlight Ray said, “Carefully, behind the scenes, manipulate them, until, slowly, their values change into something we can approve of. We'd have to make sure to change the values of Gentle Hooves and Styled Mane at the same time and the same rate, so that there is no problem that arises from a mismatch there. If the change is slow enough, it shouldn't conflict with their values... it's still a moral grey area, but better than any alternative that I can think of.”
“That sounds acceptable, then.”, Future Dream said, “How slow exactly would this be?”
“A couple hundreds of subjective years?”, Starlight Ray guessed, “Possibly longer. So... yeah, when I said that “we” could do this, I really meant our home shard. We as in this crew probably can't stay here long enough – they know us now, so we aren't subtle enough. Also, we just don't have the right experience and education. To sum things up, something can be done, but we can't be the ones to do it.”
“So we just have to leave them here, as slaves? For hundreds of years?”, Needle Point said, sounding sick, “I... I don't think I want to continue traveling. I want to go home, where ponies are sane, and where I am allowed to help those who need help.”
Future Dream closed her eyes. It would be so easy to say yes... to agree, to go home and forget that this all happened. But it wouldn't work. How could she ever forget? And how could she forgive herself if she did forget?
“... no.”, she said. There was silence, and everypony in the shardship turned towards her. Future Dream swallowed. This was where she was supposed to hold a big speech to make them go on despite everything that had happened. There had been several times like this in her life, and yet... it felt like this time, it really mattered. The other speeches she had held so far in her life had been little more than words. Pretty word, sure. Inspiring words, even. But nothing that really mattered.
“If you wish to leave, I will not stop you. Before you do, however, I ask that you listen. But I will go on. Yes, this is horrible, and my inability to help scares me. Even though I know that something will be done, it isn't enough; I want to do something myself to help. And that it will take hundreds of years to fix this is even worse. Yes, it is bad enough to make me want to return home and, curl up into a ball and hide. But I cannot do that. Because, before I am an explorer, I am a scientist. I am here to discover the truth, to discover what reality is like. And reality doesn't care if it is ugly, or stupid, or horrible. Reality just is. And running away and hiding from the truth won't help, it won't change the truth. Ignorance won't change things. Therefore my responsibility, as a scientist, is to face the truth. Because, if I do, if I keep learning and understanding, despite all odds and horrors, then there is a chance – no matter how small – that I will one day be able to change things for the better. Or, failing that, point others in the right direction so that they can change it for the better, which is what we are doing today. Remember that. For every problem we will face, every terrible condition we encounter, remember that by finding it we pave the way for others to help.”
Nopony left.
--
“Why do you think Celestia showed us this shard first?”, Azure Waters asked her quietly, voice low enough that the others in the command couldn't hear it, “She could have shown us a happy shard instead. A good shard. Why this?”
“I don't know.”, Future Dream said, “Maybe she doesn't like traveling between shards, and wanted to scare us back into our own. But I think it's because we value the truth. So she showed us the truth.”
“But... but I didn't want to see... that.”, Azure Waters said, helplessly.
“I know.”, Future Dream said, and sighed, “But would you really prefer a lie? Even if the lie is beautiful? Would you prefer fake shards, or shards carefully selected to show you what you want? Would you really want to be lied to when you could know the truth, regardless of how ugly that truth is?”
Azure hesitated. Then she said, in barely a whisper: “No.”
Future Dream was silent. She had gone through this too, and she needed to give Azure her space. Eventually, Azure asked: “But why start with this? Why wouldn't Celestia start with things that are only mildly revolting instead of true horrors?”
Future Dream grimaced. She had been dreading the question, and had thought about it for a while already. She didn't like the answer that she had come up with.
“What makes you think that she isn't?”
